Author(s): Christopher Beanland

Architecture General | 2024 April New Releases

A glorious celebration of modern railway architecture in the 20th century and beyond, travelling all over the world.

Many railway books are about nostalgia for the steam age, but this one is different: a global study of railway architecture from the 1950s onwards and into the future. In 50 fascinating entries, renowned travel and architecture writer Christopher Beanland looks primarily at stations but also covers starkly brutalist signal boxes and depots, romantic and cosmopolitan railway hotels and sleek and streamlined interchanges, plus international examples of great logos and design.

The book explores the well-known Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, Madrid's Atocha Station and the brand new Penn Station Hall in New York, but it also includes less prominent examples such as high-speed stations in Saudi Arabia, the Dusseldorf Art Tram line and even the monorails at Walt Disney World. It contains in-depth features on repurposed urban railway infrastructure, hanging railways in Germany and Japan, and the mysterious glamour of travelling by night. There is also a selection of interviews with interesting people who regularly use these iconic buildings and railways.

Stylish and contemporary, this gloriously illustrated book is a celebration of modern railway architecture at its best, an ideal purchase for rail enthusiasts and architecture aficionados alike.